DESCANSO

In Genesis 1 there is a phrase used at the end of each day God spent creating the earth. It reads: “And then there was evening and there was morning, the first day”(Genesis 1:5). The important part of this phrase is the order of the night and day. It says that night (evening) comes first and then the day (morning) comes. From this we can gather that rest came first; that rest was and has always been intended for the beginning of our day, not the end of it. 

With that being said, rest has been hard for me here. It certainly feels like I finish my days with rest at the time my head hits the pillow. I wake up feeling as though my eyes never really shut. Back home I had begun to get into a steady rhythm of rest and intentional time with the Lord. Now I am trying to reimagine what that time looks like for myself here. 

Being in Costa Rica has made me so much more aware of how little I rest back home and how beautiful a thing it is. This culture takes rest so seriously, stopping throughout the day to sit back, look each other in the eyes and be in community, resting continually. 

Every day is a cycle beginning with rest, we work for a few hours rest some more then back to work for another couple of hours and then rest again, then more work and finally the afternoon and evening to rest again. There are indeed 5 different scheduled rest times throughout the day. Time for community; for sitting. Time to reflect; to be nourished physically. Time to press pause and remember why I am here and why I am doing what I’m doing. These times I’ve been taking for granted. No longer will I do that. It’s time to rest; time to rest in the arms of the Father before doing His work.

Rest in the Bible: 

Mark 2:27

Psalms 127:2

Mark 6:31

Hebrews 4:10-11

P.s. this podcast goes more in depth with the gift of rest/sabbath that God gave us in Genesis—> https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bema-podcast/id1148115183?i=1000375077943

Scroll down to see some pictures from this past week. Love you all dearly! Now go and rest with me, as God did and as God commands us to.

¡Chao!

 

 

 The squad at the La Leona waterfalls on adventure day. They were so beautiful and powerful! I went underneath one and felt the weight of something I’ve never felt before so I have no comparison! 

The sunset on our way back from the waterfalls. It burned up the sky a bright orange. Hands down my favorite kind of sunset. 

 Pastor Basilio and I being way too serious about things. Hasta la vista bebé…kerchow

 Squad portraits from this past week! Rediscovering my passion for photography while here. I love capturing my squads beautiful faces!

Plants from last week!! AHHHHH!

The chronicles of Juanita! She’s alive and well and still has some dance moves up her sleeve. She’d gladly show you if you ask haha. 

We spent a couple days building a fence on Juanita’s property. These are some pictures from those days. And yes, that is a real bat chillin on a tree midday.

 Friends and squad getting hype! 

This was our ministry day last Friday. My team did something called ATL (ask the Lord) ministry where you pray and ask God to lead you somewhere to do ministry or to tell you to do what He wants. We ended up here at a neighbors house building a relationship with the husband, wife and daughter. They served us with fresh coconuts and we sat and talked for a while after praying over them. Love these days!

Here is Queen Sheylla. She turned 1 last Sunday so we spent the day celebrating her  and chasing chickens (not pictured but very true.)